Taftville resident charged in sexual assaults of 2 girls

Wednesday

Apr 24, 2013 at 12:01 AMApr 24, 2013 at 12:35 PM

A 20-year-old Taftville man is facing accusations he sexually assaulted two 11-year-old girls who live in Mystic.

JOHN BARRY

A 20-year-old Taftville man is facing accusations he sexually assaulted two 11-year-old girls who live in Mystic.
Groton Town police arrested Shawn Anderson on Saturday. He is charged with three counts of first-degree sexual assault and three counts of risk of injury to a child. He would face a maximum of 90 years in prison if a jury convicts him on all charges.
According to an affidavit for an arrest warrant, one of the girls said that Anderson began having sexual relations with her when she was 4 years old. Anderson would have been about 14 then.
The girl said he abused her several times while she was living in Mystic, Groton, Taftville and South Carolina.
The girl’s mother said she knew Anderson for more than 10 years, and he visited the family’s home regularly, police said.
Anderson also took videos of many of their sexual encounters using his cellphone, the girl told police.
The girl said she told her mother and sister about an incident in January a few days after it happened, police said. The incident did not come to light, however, until the girl was taken to the Pequot Medical Center in February and she told the nursing staff there that Anderson had sexually assaulted her and the other girl, police said.
The second girl said she had been sexually assaulted last summer by Anderson while with the first girl. She said it happened while everyone else in the house was sleeping, according to police. She said Anderson threatened the girls that if they told anyone, no one would believe them and they would break up the family.
Interviewed by police in March, Anderson denied the girls’ accusations, telling investigators that he had never touched them. He also denied videotaping them, saying he hadn’t had a cellphone for a few months, police said.
Anderson, however, took a polygraph test on March 25, and the examiner concluded he was being deceptive about having had sexual relations with one of the girls, police said. Police said he then made several partial admissions.
At the end of the interview, police said, Anderson wrote two letters of apology to one of the girls, saying he was sorry for causing her pain and that he hoped she still loved him.
Anderson is being held on $100,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear May 7 in New London Superior Court.